Grilling and Chilling temps and times (grilled chicken and steakfajitas with homemade salsa and cebollitas)

That's a mouthful!  I needed some coolant in my car and my sweet Daddy offered to do it for me in exchange for dinner.  My mom has an obsession with my homemade salsa and requested that so I decided to enjoy this beautiful weather and grill some fajitas.  My mom is a carnivore who loves red meat and dad and I are a little more healthy and like chicken.  I have used this marinade  more recently for fajitas but I decided to kick it old school and use the simple marinade my pal Chef Kelly English taught me when I was in law school.

The salsa is loosely based on a lot of recipes, the Pioneer Woman's mostly.  The cebollitas are an attempt to copy the amazing ones from Taqueria Corona.  I just kept it simple with salt and lime.

You don't have to grill the fajitas if you aren't a griller.  I have made it before on a grill pan like this, you just have to do it in batches.  Recipes follow after the step by step.  My new camera and my parents renovated kitchen make the name of the blog seem a little silly for this post!

Cast of characters for all three recipes.  That miller light seems so retro, probably because it was expired! So used to the white can now!

The marinade ingredients 

Time to infuse flavor! 

Throw all the salsa ingredients in a blender.
Yes this blender is older than me, mom got it as a wedding present!

Finished product, and another beautiful shot of that blender...may have to trade her my ninja for it...nah!

Soaking the future cebollitas 

Ready for the grill!  That's tortillas in the foil, corn for me, wheat for the parents.

Veggies on the fancy grill pan.

Mom wanted her steak rare so that went on later.  Love the Beat Bama Again cup!  Too bad we didn't :(

Looking good with some grill marks! 

Oops a little burnt!

Again a little burnt, should have cut the onion in bigger pieces!

Ready to assemble!

My plate before

And after!  Hated it!

Fajita Marinade:

2 lbs of skirt steak, or boneless skinless chicken thighs or a mixture of the two
Juice of six limes
handful of cilantro
2 cloves of garlic
one jalapeno, roughly chopped
two red onions (I only had white) roughly chopped
one beer
salt and pepper

Place all of the above things in a ziploc (Oh let's be honest, you know how I work, two ziplocs!) and rub around to mix.  Put in fridge and marinade for a minimum of a half hour.

Homemade salsa:

One large can of whole tomatoes
handful of cilantro
half an onion chopped roughly
3 cloves garlic
one jalapeno roughly chopped, half of seeds removed
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
juice of one lime

Take the tomatoes out of the can by hand and place them in blender one by one.  Add 1/4 cup of the remaining tomato juice to blender.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until desired consistency.  Place in fridge to let flavors meld for at least 10 minutes.

Cebollitas:

One bunch green onions
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of two limes
1 tbsp salt

Marinate the above ingredients in a ziploc for 10 minutes. 

Fajitas with Cebollitas:

Grill your meat, some veggies and green onions until meat is cooked through for chicken or to your desired sear for steak.  Serve on tortillas with usual garnishes of avocado, sour cream, cheese, lettuce etc, whatever tickles your fancy.

Had a lovely meal with my parents and got to enjoy some nice weather on the back porch with some wine after dinner. (and Michelob Ultra for my mom of course!)  I hope this weather lasts, it is so pleasant!  Take time to make and enjoy meals with your family, it certainly won't be the last time I do!  I just wish they lived a tiny bit closer!

Happy Cooking!

Missy